Download Files
Bring the completed Academic Planning Worksheet (APW) to New Student Orientation so you’ll be prepared for your first academic advising appointment.
Complete Your Academic Planning Worksheet
What is the Academic Planning Worksheet (APW)?
The APW is your initial guide for your one-on-one academic advising conference during New Student Orientation. The APW is designed to help you organize and prepare before you meet with an advisor. Bring your completed APW to your advising session.
What do I need to know to complete the APW?
If you have moved through the first three of the “First Steps” on this web site, you are well equipped to complete your APW.
In Prepare for Orientation Advising you learned what your orientation advising conference will be like and how to prepare for your meeting with an advisor.
In Explore Majors, Minors & Certificates you reviewed all the majors offered at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) and investigated specific majors and first courses of interest.
In Choose Your Courses you linked to course descriptions and chose courses that count for IUB General Education requirements.
If you missed any or all of these steps, please return to them now before completing the APW. Your orientation advisor will expect that you have “done your homework” and will be ready to work with you to have a productive first advising session and a strong fall enrollment—if you come prepared!
Where can I get a copy of the APW?
You received a copy in a mailing from the Office of First Year Experience Programs in May. You may also access an electronic copy of the APW.
What should I list on my APW?
The APW contains detailed instructions for completion. On the front, you will list all prior college credit, majors of interest, and questions for your Orientation advisor.
On the back, list courses that interest you. Courses of interest can help you fulfill general education requirements, explore majors that sound appealing, and make progress toward the major that will be the best for you.
The first four sections on the back of the APW provide space to list four to six courses from each of the following IUB General Education categories:
- Arts and Humanities (A&H)
- Social and Historical (S&H)
- Natural and Mathematical (N&M)
- World Languages and Cultures (WL&C)
These courses are certain to count for general education for every major at IUB.
The final section of your APW gives you space to list additional courses, including major courses, more general education courses of interest, and elective courses.
Be open to lots of possibilities! Include every course that might help you make a great start in your first semester at IUB.
What if I am a Transfer Student?
Transfer students can use the Transfer Academic Planning Worksheet (APW) with detailed instructions to help prepare for the Orientation advising appointment. Also, an expanded list of course descriptions, including many more upper level courses, can help you make good options to list on your APW.
You’ll need to account carefully for the academic work you’ve already done and understand how it fulfills requirements at IUB. These steps will help:
1) Find out if the courses you are transferring to IUB have been analyzed by the Admissions office. Go through OneStart to your SIS Student Center/My Academics page, and choose “Transfer Credit: View Academic Credit Report.” This list will show you how your courses transfer, which you will need to know in order to determine how they count for requirements at IUB.
2) If some or all of your courses have not been analyzed by Admissions, check the Credit Transfer Service from the Office of Admissions web site to look for more information on how they will transfer.
3) Use the information about courses above to determine any requirements for IUB General Education that you have completed and the requirements you still have to fulfill.
4) Assess any specific major requirements you have completed and understand what major courses will come next by accessing degree requirements for your major and school from the Academic Bulletins page.
5) Complete your Transfer APW using the information you have collected above. Bring a final transcript or complete list of courses you have taken at your previous school(s) to your advising appointment, including courses taken in the most recent term(s) (Spring and/or summer 2012).
List any questions you have on your Academic Planning Worksheet and discuss them with your orientation advisor.
Other planning tools that may be useful for transfer students new to IUB:
- The Schedule of Classes provides a full list of the classes being offered at IU Bloomington each term, including class meeting times and locations, the instructor’s name, and other important class notes.
- In addition to listing complete major and degree requirements, Academic Bulletins include basic descriptions for all courses taught by each school or academic unit. Note: Not all courses appearing in the bulletins are taught each term.
- The Class Search via the SIS Student Center in OneStart allows you to search using a keyword for Class Titles and Class Descriptions (for example “film”). Class descriptions are in the student center and can be viewed by clicking on “details” when you pull up a specific class.
- Your Academic Advisement Report will help you see how all transferred and currently enrolled courses will count toward requirements for your major, if your major intention is correctly declared.
- Degree planning guides and 4-year plans offer comprehensive guides to degree requirements and suggested plans for completing those requirements.
